Mechanical player for musical instruments.



H. G. GOLDMAN & G. F. WEBB. MECHANICAL PLAYER FOR MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS. APPLIOATION FILED JULY 19,1909.

1,035,532. Patented Aug 13, 1912.

- 2 SHEETS-SHEET l.

Wifnasses AMMW H. 0. L MANa: o. P. WEBB; MECHANICAL PLAYER FOR MUSICALINSTRUMENTS. APPLICATION FILED JULYYIB, 1959.

Patented Aug. 13,1912.

2 SHBETSSHEET 2.

for my.

Corina/[An I WEBB, subjects of the King of Great Britain,

Unitar an sra'rns PATENT. OFFICE.

HENRY onannns COLDMAN, or cA'rronn, AND onzaisrornnn rn'nnnmox WEBB, or

nnwisnelvr, niven'ann.

I MECHANICAL PLAYER FOR MUSICAL INSTRUVIENTS.

' Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Aug,'13,1912.

' Application and July 19, 1909. Serial in. 508,365.

To all whom it may concern."

Be it-known that we, HENRY Crmnnns .and Cnnis'rornna FREDERICK residing,respectively, at 127 Glenfarg road, Catford, and 107 Gilmore'road,Lewisham, both in the county of Kent, England, have invented certain newand useful Improvements in and Relating to Mechanical Playersfor MusicalInstruments, of which the following is a specification.

Our present invention relates to mechanical players of the pneumatictype for musical instruments, such as pianos and other keyboardinstruments, and has for its objects to provide an eitective playerwhich is more simple and'compact in construction and capable of beingmade more cheaply than the players heretofore proposed, with which weare familiar.

According to our present invention the apparatus is so constructed thata note is sounded by a blow imparted through the medium. or an actuatoracting directly on the piano action, thereby operating the ham mer ofthe action, the actuator being actu ated by an. improved form of powerpneumatic which consists of a cylinder in which a piston is mounted tofreely reciprocate,

the said. pistonbeing caused to move each time'a hole in the music sheetregisters with the corresponding hole in the. tracker board by means ofatmospheric suction from a reservoir through which air is drawn by asuitable pump operated by foot or other power.

It is also an object of our invention to arrange a set of powerpneu'matics and their associated actuators in the" upper part of a pianocasing, above the piano keys and in close proximity to the hammer actionof the piano, it being possible by reason of the peculiar construct-ionand arrangement =ot our improved pneumatics to makethe whole mechanismas a unit and. then incorporate the same easilv in the casing of anupright piano. a a v More specifically, we contemplate mounting 'our'improved actuating means, which is in the form of pneumatic cylindersand pistons freely movable insaid cylinders, on a connnon carrierelement. with which said pneumatics are combined prior to their installation in the piano, said carrier element being'then capable orintroduction into the upper part of the piano casing in which it 1smounted in the'location previously indicated. The connections foroperating said.

of a piano casin 7 The pistons of the power pneumatics are operativelyconnected With the wlppens of the action with which they correspond innumber and location.

In order that the said invention may be more clearly understood andreadily carried into efiect, We will describe the same more fully withreference to the accompanying drawings, in which-#- I Figure 1 is afront elevation of one form of our apparatus embodying the features ofour invention, the view; showing sufficient portions of a piano to giveclear understanding of the relative arrangement of'the parts; Fig. 2 isa sectional elevation of the same; Figs. 3 and 4 are details in section,on larger scale than Figs. 1 and of parts of said apparatus; Fig. 5 is adetail. view of the primary diaphragm pneumatic.

Referring to the drawings the reference letter K designates the keyboardof an ordinaryupright piano and the letter X the piano hammer action. a.

A convenient form of the mechanism for actuating ,one hammer of theinstrument (the mechanism being merely repeated for each hammer to beactuated, comprises 'a valve device A which is comiected with thetracker board B by flexible or other tubes at, said valve device beingconnectodby flexible or other tubes 72. 5; to the air reservoir C of thepump, and also by flexible or other tubes 6 to the power pneumaticcylinders D in each of which a piston d is freely movable in such mannerthat when an aperture in the tracker boar'dB is closed, air is admittedthrough an aperture in a valve device which will be hereinafter more particularly described, but when a slot in the music sheet opens acorresponding aperture in the tracker board, the aperture in the valvedevice closes andair is drawn out of;

the cylinder of the power pneumatic D,

- causing its associated piston d to withdraw intothe cylinder arryingwith'it the piston rod (8 and also moving its extension-(l which latter18 provided with an actuator in the form of a hammer d, the saidactuator operating directly upon the wippen of the action to lift thesame in precisely the same manner that the wippen is actuated throughthe medium of the piano keys K in ordinary manual playing of the piano.

The valve device A, comprises a chamber a provided with a diaphragm orother suitable device a on one side and a double valve seat a a on theother side. a may be of some flexible material, The chamber a isprovided with a passage 0. to which the tube a leading from the trackerboard aperture is connected. and said chainbcr also has a passage 0.connecting the opposite tube 7) extending from the power pneumaticcylinder D to a small chamber a between the seats a a.

It will be noted that the pneumatic cylinders D are arranged in a singlehorizontal series extending in a line across the piano casing preferablyin close proximity to the wippens to which they correspond in number andwith which they are alined. The carrierelement previously mentioned mayconveniently take the form of a bar or rail A and on it all cylinders ofthe power pneumatics are mounted, and also the several valve devices Aare connected to and sup- 30 ported from the bar or rail A by means ofbrackets A as shown in. Fig. 2. It will be readily understood that'thesaid cylinders and valve devices can be applied to or combined with saidcarrier element prior to the introduction of the latter into the pianocasing in which said element is mounted in any convenient way. In theembodiment illustrated, the carrier element is bored out to affordpassages or ducts a permitting the exhaust of the respective cylindersD, for which purpose they are connected with the tubes 7) The pistons (Zof the power pneumatics are vertically arranged in order that theactuators operated thereby (illustrated as comprising the piston rod (Z,tension (Z and hammer (Z may cooperate with the -wippens of the pianoaction in a direct and reliable manner.

\Vhen the tracker board aperture is closed by an imperlorate part of themusic sheet M, the pressure in the chamber a being less than atmospherecauses the double valve '0 if to close the chamber a and the tube a,leaving the outer seat a." open, thereby opening the said chamber 11Fbetween the seats to the atmosphere and allowing the. aforesaid cylinderof the power pneumatic (Z to be open to the atmosphere whi h will causethe parts to assume the position shown the parts.

The outer seat.

in Fig. 3, this being the. normal position ol' 3 tracker board apertiii'e and the valve device A is increased, thereby raising the diaphragm aand efilectingdhe closing of the valve '0' against the outer seat a.This closing of the valve against the outer seat opens the inner seat aand allows the air to be drawn from the cylinder D of the powerpneumatic; thus direct. suction is setup as shown by the arrows in F ig.t, between the reservoir C of the pump and the piston device D whichoperates in the manner heretofore described. Now, after the re-closingot' the tracker board aperture, some air will remain in the spacebetween the music sheet and the valve device, and in order to proridefor the escape of this air a small bleed aperture or passage a is formedin the diaphragm of. In order to prevent the escape aperture from beingclosed up by particles of dust or paper, a. piece of silk or otherporous material 0. is placed between the diaphragm and the tracker boardaperture so as to filter the air which may pass through the minuteaperture in the diaphragm and so prevent the said aperture from beingstopped up. as shown in Fig. 1

The valve mechanism comprises a spindle i on each end of which mounted aball 1 and v For convenience of construction, the ball 1." may beloosely mounted on the spindle '1: and the ball '0 firmly fixed thereto.The ball 2' serves to transmit the motion of the diaphragm to the ball vthrough the spindle '0. Again, after the re-closing of the aperture inthe tracker board the air 100 pressure on each side of the piston (Z ofthe power pneumatic is in balance, owing to both sides being open to theatmosphere. The piston is, therefore, allowed to fall or return bygravity (see Fig. 3). In some in- 105 stances, and with a view toassisting the return of the piston, a spring may be associated therewithin any suitable manner.

The music roll is operated by any suitable form of cylinder or othermotor E which 110 may be connected up by a flexible or other pipe withthe reservoir C of the pump from which air is drawn by means of thepumps 1 which comprise pistons p operating in cylinders 71', both in aircommunica- 115 tion with the reservoir C through the pipes p The pistonrods 7) may be connected through the pivoted cross rod or bar 7), eachend of which is respectively connected to the pedals 7)". by means ofsuitable 12 straps 7) and p, or the. like passing over pulleys 7'), 7R,mounted on the shaft 72 carried in the bearings p", which are secured lothe under side of the key base of the piano. The pedals. as shown, aremount- 125 cd in a suitable frame 7).

As soon as the corresponding uoio slot or '1 aperture in the music sheetregisters with an aperture in the tracker board the pressure in 5 thepassage (13* and the tube abctwecn tn With the apparatus above.described, many of the devices for acccntlng, accelerating and retardingand otherwise modifying and interpreting the various musical 13Gcompositions can be attached with little, if any, modification of theexisting mechanism by anyone reasonably skilled in the art, andcylinders with pistons may be employed where desirable to operate any expression devices, but it may be observed here that our air reservoir isof such dimen sions that while being sufficiently large and fitted witha spring-controlled regulator c to prevent any unevenness, due toirregular pedaling, it is possible to obtain 7)., 197)., 727919., or f,77"., and ff effects by varying the strength of the pedaling which maydispense with extra mechanism heretofore usually employed for thatpurpose, it being possible to obtain these effects because of the factthat our improved power pneumatics which consist of the cylinders andpistons are extremely active and sensitive in operation.

\Vhile we have described the apparatus as operating by suction, it willbe obvious that the" same may be readily adapted for operation bypressure. The pressure, under ordinary conditions, may vary in ourapparatus from about one and a half pounds to twelve pounds per squareinch.

The invention is applicable as an interior attachment to a piano orinthe cabinet form of player or as a coin-operated automat-i0 machine.

What we claim is 1. A piano having a playing attachment inclosed in'thecasing thereof, said attachment comprising a plurality of verticallyarranged cylinders and pistons freely movable therein, said cylinderslocated transvcrsely of the piano casing, above the plane of thepiano-keys and below the wippens of the action, one of such cylindersbeing in vertical alinemciit with each wippen, an actuator between eachpiston and its associated wippen, and valve mechanism for controllingthe operation of the said pistons.

2. A piano having a playing attachment inders, pistons freely movabletherein, controlling valves therefor, and an independent actuatorbetween each piston and a unit of the hammer action, the said mechanismbeing located in the upper part of the piano casing adjacent to andforward of the hammer action.

4. An uprightpiano having a pneumatic hammeractuating attachmentinclosed in the casing thereof, said attachment includ ing a pluralityof power pneumatics consisting of a single horizontal series ofvertically disposed cylinders and pistons freely movable therein, saidcylinders arranged parallel to each other and transversely of the pianocasing and located in the upper part of the casing adjacent to andforward of the piano action, and an independent actuator between eachpiston and a unit of the hammer action. Y

-5. An upright piano having a pneumatic hammer actuating mechanismlocated in the upper part of the piano case above the piano keys andadjacent to and forward of the hammer action,'said mechanism consistingof a single horizontal series of vertically disposed cylinders andpistons therefor which constitute the power pneumatics, the upper endsof all of said cylinders vbeing arranged in the same plane and.transversely of the piano, pneu matic air chambers andvalve devices forcontrolling the operation of saidpower pneumatics and a lifting actuatorbetween the respective pistons and the associated units of the hammeraction.

6. An upright piano having a pneumatic hammer-actuating mechanismlocated in the upper part of the piano case adjacent to and forward ofthe hammer action, said mechanism consisting of a single horizontalseries of vertically disposed cylinders and cooperating pistons and anactuator between each piston and a unit of/ the hammer ac-, tion. I

7. An uprightpiano having a pneumatic I hammer actuating mechanismlocated inthe upper part of the piano case adjacent to and forward ofthe hammer action, /sai d mechanism consisting of a single horizontalseries of vertically disposed hammers and cooperating pistons and asubstantially rigid lifting actuator between each piston and the wippenof the corresponding hammer action unit. p In testimony whereof weattixour signatures in presence of two witnesses.

HENRY CHARLES contact I CHRISTOPHER FREDERICK VEBB.

Witnesses F. SnLnY \Vonnnn, Grouch S. Bunions.

